Virtual-health visits allow Dr. Niamey Wilson to keep appointments with her patients, but practicing medicine in the age of COVID-19 is tremendously different.

“It is very, very interesting being a physician during this time,” said Dr. Wilson, above, director of breast surgery research and quality at the Hartford Healthcare Cancer Institute. “I think probably the biggest difference between what we’re all used to in medicine vs. now is just how strange it is to have these kind of barriers between yourself and the patient. You know, most of us were trained in an era where (medicine) was very hands-on.”

With a patient population that’s often dealing with the emotional upheaval of a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, Dr. Wilson is used to offering comfort and hugs when appropriate.

“With the pandemic going on, we just don’t have that kind of personal touch anymore and it’s just a very, very strange kind of environment now,” she said.

Virtual-health visits, or video appointments, are being used across Hartford HealthCare by outpatient behavioral health, primary care and specialty care practices, including Cancer Institute locations. The system’s providers, she said, are averaging more than 2,000 virtual visits every day.

“We just don’t want to take the risk of having somebody come into a medical facility if they don’t absolutely have to,” Dr. Wilson explained, adding that after the pandemic, telehealth technology will certainly be used more often. “(I see it) being a part of how we do things going forward because it’s been really wonderful.”

Patients, she said, have been gracious and understanding of the transition to virtual health, also called telehealth, because they understand the need to practice social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Other changes resulting from the pandemic, such as limiting a patient’s ability to bring family members or friends with them when they have surgery has been more challenging.

“Because of the pandemic, the patient has to get dropped off at the front door (of the hospital). They’re wheeled in, a nurse walks them to pre-op,” Dr. Wilson said, adding that while the patients are never alone, they cannot be comforted by a loved one at a very frightening time.

After surgery and time spent in the recovery room, a nurse calls the patient’s family. The patient is then wheeled back out to the front of the hospital for pick-up.

“It’s just been a strange experience for all of us,” Dr. Wilson said. “We’re not used to it. We’re trying to cope with it. Everyone understands why we’re doing things like this, but it’s definitely taken a little bit of a toll. But, we all we’re all just working together. We’re all in this together.”

Dr. Niamey P. Wilson is director of Breast Surgery, Research & Quality at the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute.

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